This is the bud we will follow throughout the season. I had originally picked a Chardonnay bud to follow, but wanted you to see the change of color, "veraison", so have switched to a Pinot bud. And I have given this bud the name of Anna, after one of my most dearest life-long friends.
Anna reaching to the skies
Here is the same image as above, enlarged so you can see the baby grapes!
I love this bright, spring green spread across the fruiting wire..
A sea of spring!
The Pinot is tasting so good in the barrel we are scrounging around looking for more space to plant more. We cleared away another 1/8 acre or so above the rest of the vines and planted nearly 250 additional plants, following the Biodynamic calendar for the best planting days. The rocks were plentiful, as expected, but we got the vines planted, clone 777 on rootstock 101-14. We will tend to them for three years now before harvesting any fruit from them. One attribute we have learned to develop when raising a vineyard is patience.
I'll take a pic of this vine when it begins sprouting its new shoots.
And the new winery... Coming next!
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And the answer to the last blog posting's question about what is wrong with the buds in those last images... They both have double buds. In each of these buds, one of the double buds will have to be plucked off. If left alone, the canopy would be too dense and the fruit crop too heavy. A dense canopy will set us up for mildew issues, as not enough air movement and sunlight will get to all the leaves. And too many fruit clusters will result in too much fruit which will diminish the intensity of the fruit flavors. These are just a couple of the little things that make a difference, giving us the highest quality wine possible
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